"Oh Baby" Cards

I love babies.

And I love making cards.

So when I got an email asking if I'd be interested in making 25 baby shower invites, I jumped at the chance (since we're done with babies at our house, I really love other people's babies!).

I did some looking online for a great idea.. and found some super cute ones, thanks to Pinterest. Of course my client liked the one that didn't come with instructions.. just a picture. So I had to get creative! I'm pretty happy with the result:

I really loved these cards (which turned into thank you notes instead of shower invites) and plan to make them again for baby gifts. It's much easier for me to keep an electronic file here, than in my not-so-organized craft room.

If you've made cards before, these are pretty simple - the hardest part is designing the diaper, which is why I'm happy to share my pattern with anyone who is interested. I can't figure out how to post a pdf file, so if you want the diaper pattern, email me and I'll be happy to email it to you! Or, if you know how to upload a pdf, I'd love to hear that too!

Other supplies you'll need are basic cardmaking supplies:

• 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock - I used white for the diaper.
• Cardstock for inside card - I layered a piece of light blue on top of a piece of white. Sorry, I don't measure - just cut it to fit.. probably about 4' x5".
• Paper punch
• Safety pin
• Ribbon
• Rubber stamps and ink
• Sponge
• Double stick tape or glue
• Envelope - invitation size works perfect.
• Paper cutter
• Scissors

Now the instructions (again, very basic.. I like simple projects! And with pictures, because I like pictures!)



1. Print pattern (or draw) onto cardstock. Cut out.



2. Using sponge, add ink to outer edge of diaper. This is totally optional - I just like the way it looks.





3. Fold diaper - I wish I had measurements for you, but I'm really more of an "eyeballer"... I measure as little as possible. Just fold it where it looks good!



4. Punch hole in front of the diaper - this is where the safety pin will go.

5. Add safety pin and ribbon.



6. I used a fancy edge punch to jazz up the bottom edge of the card that slides inside the diaper. This is totally optional!



7. Layer the cardstock on the inside card, and stamp your words. I used "thank you" and a cute baby face on the card and the envelope.



I made 26 of these in relatively no time - 25 for my client, and one for me for future baby gift inspiration!



All packaged up and ready for the new mom! Oh how I wish this could be my full-time job!

  









65 Sucks

I have seen this idea all over Pinterest, and finally found a reason to make my own.

My friend and KFYR dad, Dwayne Walker, celebrated his 65th birthday this week. Since I couldn't meet him for coffee on his big day, I decided to put a little extra effort into his gift.

It was pretty easy, and the results are pretty cool, at least in my opinion.

If you'd like to make your own, you probably don't really need any directions, but just in case, here are some very basic directions.

I bought a shiny bucket and used the hot glue gun to "stuff" the bucket with plastic bags, and finally a couple of blocks of styrofoam. Then I poked the suckers (65 of them!) into the styrofoam.

I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers and letters.

Then I glued it all together, then on the bucket..added a ribbon, and bam... done!

If you're looking for some other "getting old" gift ideas, here are some links to some other great ideas I found, via Pinterest:
www.meandmyinsanity.com
www.puertabella.blogspot.com
www.bedifferentactnormal.com

"Whoooo's" Ready for Valentine's Day?

Morgan loves owls.

She's got an owl hat, had an owl theme for her second birthday party, and now she will be giving her friends owl valentines.

She's pretty excited.

And, I have to admit, I'm pretty excited too.

My inspiration, as it often does, came from Pinterest (but there were no directions to go with that picture) and the $1 aisle at Target.

That's where I found the owl valentine treat bags.

Cute by themselves, but I had a plan to make them even cuter.

 I work best in assembley line fashion:

I used my Cricut (love, love, love that thing... best $99 I've ever spent and totally worth getting up in the middle of the night to snag at that price on Black Friday a few years back) and the Animal Kingdom cartridge. I'm sure you could find a cute owl online that you could just print out, but what fun would that be?

Anyway....

I chose the owl head from that cartridge and cut it five inches from brown cardstock.

Then I added the eyes.. using gray, black and white cardstock and my Creative Memories circle punches.

And then I added the beak.

To do that, I simply punched out the brown beak and taped a piece of orange card stock behind the owl.

It ain't pretty, but no one will ever see it, and it looks pretty good from the front!

to the computer.

There's all kinds of cute owl sayings:

• "Whoo" Loves You?
• "Whoo" Wants To Be My Valentine?
• "Owl" Be Your Valentine
• "Owl" always be your friend 

Print on cardstock, layer on another piece of cardstock, fold the red in half, staple to the bag, and then glue the cutest owl ever to the other side.. and boom.... Morgan's valentines are done!



I'm a SUCKER for you!

It's amazing what I can accomplish with cooperative kids and an extra hour.

This afternoon, I decided to attempt a really cool valentine idea I'd seen on Pinterest (here's the link to the blog where the idea came from: 24-7-365.blogspot.com.)

Meantime, here's how we did this project:

Lizzy loves to pose for pictures, so I knew getting her to pose with her arm outstretched and her hand in a fist wouldn't be a problem.

I was right.

Ok, not exactly what I was looking for!

I really wanted to do the photos outdoors, because I love natural light. But it was six-degrees. No way were we going outside for a lousy picture!

Then I remembered when I was a kid, my mom used to hang a tablecloth on the closet doors for a pretty blue backdrop.

Because this was a valentine project, and because I only have two tablecloths (red and green) I chose red for our backdrop.

Much better:

Well, better, aside from the face, anyway! Lizzy is the reason I love digital cameras!

A few more tries, and a few different angles, and we had a couple of winners:

That took less than 15 minutes!

Next, I uploaded the pictures to my computer, then took the best two and uploaded them to Picnik, a basically free photo editing program (when I say "basically free" I mean you can do a lot of things for free, but for the really fancy stuff, you have to pay. I'm totally fine with the freebies).

On Picnik, I added the words "I'm a SUCKER for you, valentine!" and fancied up the edges of the print a little.

After saving the edited version, I then uploaded it to Shutterfly (my absolute favorite photo printing site). I had a coupon for $2 off an order of 20 prints at Target, so I ordered ten of each pose, sent them to Target via Shutterfly, and an hour later, Lizzy's valentine's were ready to be picked up.

Then, just one more step. I had to add the suckers. I punched holes at the top and the bottom of her fist, then put the sucker in those holes.

That's it.

Done deal.

Total time spent making these amazing valentines: maybe an hour.

Maybe.

And it's only January 17th!

Even better, 20 valentines cost me $3.80 ($1.80 for the pictures, $2 for the bag of suckers!)

Yay me!

And, because Lizzy was just getting warmed up, I snapped a few more pictures that could also be used for valentines. My favorite is the heart frame - her idea, by the way!

Now... to find an idea for Morgan's valentines..... before February 13th!

Another blog? I must be crazy

I am Jody – wife to Brad, mom to Lexi, Jake, Lizzy and Morgan.

I have a part-time job that I get paid for (and I get to do really cool stuff there too!). I also have a full time job, for which the payment comes in the form of giggles, smiles, kisses and hugs. Guess which job I like better?

I also have two other blogs I try to maintain (Lizzy-isms and The Kerzman 6), so I don’t have much spare time, but when I get a few hours to myself, I like to create things – from fabric, using rubber stamps or stickers, preserving memories in scrapbooks, playing with my Cricut machine, or using Uppercase Living.

This blog is my way of sharing my ideas – both done, and in the dreaming stages. Who knows.. maybe one of you will see my ideas and make them a reality!  If you do, please share...just in case I never get around to trying them myself!